Cloth folding and measuring machine



(No Model.)

J. SMALLEY.

CLOTH FOLDING AND MEASURING MACHINE.

No 600,558. Patented Mar. 15,1898.

UNl'lED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES SWALLEY, OF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD HALL, OF VVORGESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTH FOLDING AND MEASURING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,558, dated March 15, 1898.

A li ation filed October 8, 1896. Serial No. 608,254. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES SMALLEY, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts,l1ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloth Folding and Measuring Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 represents an end view of so much of a cloth folding and measuring machine as is necessary to illustrate my improvements thereon. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the parts shown in Fig. 1, taken on line a m of said figure. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views to Fig. 2, showing the operating parts in differentpositions, as and'for the purpose hereinafter described. Fig. 5 is a side View, upon an enlarged scale, of the tilting frame constituting the main feature of my invention, which will also be hereinafter described; and Fig. 6 is a transverse section through said tilting frame, as is indicated by the dotted line in said Fig. 5. I

The object of my invention is to provide means for taking up the slack cloth and for keeping said cloth straight and true when the folding-machine is stopped and the momentum of the cloth-roll causes the cloth to be unwound therefrom.

Said invention consists in arranging an unevenly-weighted tilting frame between the cloth-roll and draft-rolls of a cloth folding and measuring machine, through which the cloth may be drawn in its passage from said clothroll to the draft-rolls to properly guide the same and also to support and direct the slack cloth over onto the cloth-roll, so that it will be carried around on the surface of the latter the distance of a partial revolution and the rotation of said cloth-roll retarded and quickly stopped by frictional contact, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to better understand the nature and purpose thereof, I will now proceed to describe it more in detail.

Referring to the drawings, A represents part of the main framework of a cloth folding and measuring machine.

Bis the usual cloth-roll, upon which the cloth 0 is wound prior to connecting it with said folding and measuring machine. Said cloth is unwound from the cloth-roll by the draft-rolls D D, between which it passes, and by the action of folding said cloth by the machine. As the folding and measuring mechanism constitutes no part of my present invention, it will be unnecessary to illustrate or describe the same.

Just above and a little to one side of the cloth-roll 13, between said cloth-roll and the draft-rolls D D, is arranged the tilting frame E, the same being pivoted at about the center of its length by the rod a to the frame A, as is shown in the drawings. Said tilting frame E consists of the two transverse end pieces 1) b, one at each end, and in addition to the central longitudinal pivot-rod a of the two longitudinal rods 0 and (1, one at or near each end of the end pieces I) Z) and parallel to the pivot-rod a. The rod 0 at the end nearest the draft-rolls D D is made considerably heavier in practice than the rod d. Thecorresponding ends of the end pieces are likewise made wider and heavier than the opposite ends thereof for the purpose of making that side of the tilting frame heavier than the other side, and thereby causing it to descend by force of gravity when the pressure of the cloth is released upon said other side.

This occurs when the machine is stopped and the roll of cloth 0 continues to rotate by the momentum imparted to it in drawing off the cloth therefrom, which, as will be understood, is drawn off at a speed of about one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five yards per minute. Ordinarily the slack cloth thus unwound from the cloth-roll when the machine is stopped is allowed to fall in a pile upon the floor, thereby not only soiling the same, but also when the machine is again started up causing it to run unevenly as it is drawn from the floor, owing to the uneven manner in which it has been deposited on said floor. By the use of my invention the cloth is prevented from touching the floor, and is consequently kept free from dust and dirt of any kind liable to accumulate upon the floor, and is also kept straight and true either in stopping or starting up the machine tinues to rotate, owing to the momentum imparted to it in drawing off'saidcloth; butas soon as the pressure of the cloth onthe tilting frame E is removed its side next tothe draft-rolls, being Weighted heavier than the opposite side, descends, thus raising its opposite side with a quick movement and causingthe slack cloth to be thrown over onto the cloth-roll, as is shown in Fig. 3, which,

owing to the friction of one part of the cloth upon another, carries it over still farther onto said roll, as is shown in Fig. 4, until said cloth is drawn taut and the cloth-roll stopped, said r011 stopping when the cloth has been carried over about the distance or a little farther than is shown in said Fig. 4.

By the old method when a machine having a full or nearly full roll is stopped quite a length of cloth is unrolled and deposited upon the floor by the continued rotation of the cloth-roll, and when the machine is started up it gathers the cloth up very unevenly,the selvage often coming at thecenterof the roll. Sometimes it becomes badly creased, and

sometimes it will shoot off to one side of the roll, according to the nature of the cloth, some cloths working worse than others in this respect; but with my appliance I find in practice that the cloth, as previously stated, is kept straight and even at all times in folding and measuring any kind of cloth. The tilting movement of the frame E is controlled by its stop e striking frame A.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a cloth folding and measuring machine, thecombination of frame A, with pivot-rod 0, end pieces b I) made heavier at one end than the other; rods 0 at extending between the ends of said endpiecesand arranged parallelto pivot-rod a and constitutinga tilting frame arranged above and a little to one side of the cloth-roll B over which the cloth passes in its passage from said cloth-roll to the draftrolls D, D, said cloth first vpassing over the rod (1, then under the pivot-rod a and over the rod "c to saiddraft-rolls, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES SMALLEY. Witnesses:

JOHN HARRISON, GEo. SMALLEY. 

